Volume 9, Number 1—January 2003
Research
Viral Gastroenteritis Outbreaks in Europe, 1995–2000
, Mark Reacher*, Yvonne van Duijnhoven‡, François-Xavier Hanon§, David Brown†, and Marion Koopmans‡1Table 2
National coverage and use of clinical definitions for viral gastroenteritis by European surveillance systems
| Country | National coverage %a | Definition of viral gastroenteritis outbreakb | Laboratory confirmation required | Outbreak definition applied |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| As entry criteria in database | Retrospectively for analysis | |||||
| Denmark |
100 |
Kaplan’s, shellfish |
Always |
Always |
||
| England and Wales |
100 |
General |
Yes |
Always |
Never |
|
| Finland |
100 |
Clinical |
Yes |
Always |
Never |
|
| France |
100 |
Clinical, shellfish |
Always |
Never |
||
| Germany |
||||||
| Italy |
1 |
Clinical |
Always |
Always |
||
| Slovenia |
100 |
Clinical |
Sometimes |
Sometimes |
||
| Spain |
100 |
General |
Yes |
Always |
Sometimes |
|
| Sweden |
100 |
Kaplan’s, clinical |
Yes |
Always |
Sometimes |
|
| the Netherlands | 100 | System 1: clinical System 2: Kaplan’s System 3: clinical | Yes Yes | Sometimes | Always | |
aRefers to geographic coverage by surveillance, not completeness of reporting.
bKaplan’s, Kaplan’s criteria for recognition of Norovirus outbreaks (33); clinical, clinical criteria (different from Kaplan’s) specifying that cases must be clustered in time and place; general, general definition used for all outbreaks of gastroenteritis with laboratory confirmation required to attribute outbreak to viral pathogen; shellfish, specific criteria used for identifying shellfish outbreaks.
1On behalf of the Foodborne Viruses in Europe group, which includes: the Netherlands: M. Koopmans, H. Vennena, Y. van Duynhoven, and M.A. Widdowson,; Finland: K.-H. von Bonsdorff, L. Maunula; Denmark: B. Böttiger, K. Mølbak, F.X. Hanon; Sweden: L. Svensson, K.-O. Hedlund, Maria Thorvag, Juan Carrique-Mas; United Kingdom: D. Brown, M. Reacher, J. Green, B. Lopman; Germany: E. Schreier, H. Gelderblom, Andrea Ammon; Spain: A. Sanchez-Faquier, G. Hernández-Pezzi, A. Bosch, J. Buesa; France: F. LeGuyader, P. Pothier, E. Kohli; Italy: F. Ruggeri, D. DeMedici; and Slovenia: M. Poljsak-Prijatelj, A. Hocevar-Grom.
